Maybe you’re hearing a lot about machine learning or deep learning, or reading articles about artificial intelligence (AI), and you’re wondering what this really means for business. The rapid progress that the data scientist community is making on machine learning and AI will change the ways that we do business forever — and that’s going to happen soon.
One fundamental change that these technologies will bring involves customer relationship management. Specifically, machine learning and AI will help marketers to target audiences in new ways, and generate campaigns that are hyper-targeted and much more effective. Businesses that don’t evolve and get on the AI bandwagon will be left behind. Here are some ways that these new programming models will change the face of marketing and advertising forever.
Building a Better Interface
First, you’ll see AI being integrated into all sorts of customer-facing company interfaces. Experts are already pointing out examples at Google and other large tech companies, where artificial intelligence is built into live chat response, product selection features, and more. In a very general sense, AI will be used to impress customers and offer new conveniences. But that’s only one of the ways that these types of progress will have an impact on marketing departments.
Automating Data Collection
Some of those who are looking most closely at AI’s impact on marketing are talking about how machine learning and AI tools will bring more real-time capability. Instead of having employees drawing out data from CRM systems in a traditional way, much more of the fact-finding will be automated, so that data will be brought to the salesperson’s fingertips without a lot of outside human intervention. This speed enhancement is going to make yesterday’s data mining practices look decisively sluggish, as marketers with new automation tools race to the finish line.
Modeling the Customer
Another way that artificial intelligence tools will remake the marketing world has to do with the essence of what machine learning really is. Unlike linear programming concepts, machine learning tools build a model from available data. That’s an incredible shortcut to working up business intelligence — companies don’t have to go through hundreds or thousands of client files on the database to build a model. They can just use training data sets to create what they want on-the-fly.
The emergence of Facebook look-alikes is one of the best examples of this. If you haven’t heard of this service, Facebook is essentially allowing users to create model-based audiences that are “similar to your best existing customers” — as Facebook puts it. Google Display Network now offers targeting “Similar Audience” which is similar to Facebook’s look-alikes. Sizing tools help with customization. All of this is going to greatly increase the company’s business intelligence assets, and that in turn will allow much more effective sales processes.
WebSubstance is a professional online marketing firm in Northern Virginia. We keep ourselves up-to-date with the emerging digital opportunities and help our clients to take advantage of the best new technologies and cutting-edge methods for captivating audiences and increasing market share in any industry. Ask us about how to move forward in 2018 with an improved game plan and a new outlook on enterprise tech.
